In bilico tra Israele e Palestina: l’Organizzazione dell’Unità Africana e la guerra dello Yom Kippur

Abstract

On the Edge Between Israel and Palestine: The Organization of African Unity and the Yom Kippur War

What dynamics led the Organization of African Unity and the majority of African states to sever diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973? Was the Yom Kippur War truly the decisive catalyst, or did it instead represent the culmination of deeper and longer-term tensions? This article addresses these questions by examining three interrelated dimensions: the broader context of Israeli-African relations in the postcolonial period; the role of Gaddafi’s Libya, with particular attention to the cases of Uganda and Ethiopia; and the political and diplomatic consequences of the 1973 rupture. Drawing on Israeli, British, and American diplomatic sources, complemented by OAU documentation and resolutions, the article reconstructs the processes that led to African alignment on the Israeli-Palestinian question. Within this framework, the Palestinian cause emerges as a central component of pan-African political discourse, yet one frequently subordinated to considerations of national expediency and contingent political calculations. The severance of relations with Israel thus appears less as a unified ideological commitment than as a pragmatic decision, subject to subsequent renegotiation, revealing the structural ambiguities of Afro-Arab solidarity and the shifting role of Israel within the African continent.